"This is Yanqi! To be honest, when I came here, I felt like I had been in the mountains and mountains when I read Tang poetry. But we are too easy now, and we have enough food and grass, not as hard as they have worked there." Du Zhongxiao pointed to the city in front and said to Fu Bi.

"Yes, with the train, and in a few days, we arrived in the Western Regions. It was not like the Han and Tang Dynasties, people had to walk for several months before they came in. No matter which city they went to, it was often several months."

Looking at the tall city in front of him, Du Zhongxiao and Fu Bi sighed.

Yizhou, Gaochang, Kucha and Shule, plus the south of Khotan are all common place names in Tang poetry, and I don’t know how many verses. Unexpectedly, Gaochang was destroyed in a few months, approaching Khotan, and directly faced the scene in the poem.

Hei Khan increased his troops to Kucha, and Du Zhongxiao sent people to negotiate. Hei Khan insisted on retreating, and then he knew that this battle must be fought. Hei Khan said that he was a Central Asian force, and his main body was not south of the Tianshan Mountains. If he could defeat Hei Khan in Kucha, he would chase him along the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and drive the Hei Khan Kingdom out after occupying Shule. At that time, there was no obstacle to the restoration of the country of Khan. The Song army could mainly station in Shule to prevent Hei Khan from attacking. The subsequent thing was to build roads, and wherever the railway was built, it would be the sphere of influence of the Song Dynasty.

Zhang Ke, Zhang Sheng and others were outside the city. When they saw Du Zhongxiao and Fu Bi coming, they hurried forward to greet them.

After entering the city, the city lord's mansion, they each sat down. Zhang Ke crossed his hands: "Mr. Jie and the deputy envoy have worked hard all the way, so I will rest for a night. Finally, I will prepare a banquet in the back yamen to welcome you."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Okay, we will go to the banquet later. There is nothing to do with the left and right. What's the situation in Yanqi now?"

Zhang Ke said: "After the Self-English Army occupied Yanqi, Hei Khan continued to increase his troops to Kucha. Now there are nearly 80,000 troops opposite. Buqiu between Kucha and Yanqi has been occupied by Hei Khan, and our army has occupied Tiemen Pass."

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said to Fu Bi beside him: "It seems that this battle will be fought in Budouer. The terrain there is flat and there is no big city, so it is appropriate. Hei Khan did not send troops to fight for Tiemen Pass, so it seems that he still wanted to defend it."

Zhang Ke said: "According to the news that Mokan will receive, Hei Khan's idea is that he does not want to submit to the court, otherwise it will be difficult for them to maintain. Another is that he learned that the court had found the royal family of Khotan, and when it stabilized, he was afraid that he would ask them for the Kingdom of Khotan. It would be better to take advantage of the fact that we have not yet established a stable foothold and fight a battle. If we win, we may treat them like Khitan, and we can be a country of nephew and uncle. If we lose, we will just retreat to the north of the mountain, and we will not be able to chase them. The railway only reaches Yizhou, and Yizhou will reach 1,200 miles here, and it is really difficult to support it to the south."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Their idea is good. We really can't chase the mountain north. However, as long as the battle starts, how can we end easily? Drive them across the mountain north to the south, and we can explore the north. And as long as the court is willing to pay, isn't it difficult to build a railway?"

Fu Bi said: "The people in the north are the people who are the Chelu, and Hei Khan may not care. Besides, after rebuilding the Kingdom of Khotan, the journey is long. If we want to build railways from all over the world at the same time, it is probably much more difficult. These barbarians may not care about what happens in a decade or twenty years later."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "What the Deputy Envoy said is that these barbarian countries are rising and destroyed, and the leaders change frequently. They may not think of such a long time. No matter so many, since they have sent troops, we will fight. General Zhang, wait a few more days, I have ordered all the cavalry of General Zhao in the north to come south. When the cavalry comes, the soldiers you transported food and grass will also be transferred, 50,000 to 80,000, we will fight with the Hei Khan. We will enter Gaochang without a big battle, which is really a pity."

Zhang Sheng said: "These days, Yanqi has reserved more supplies. This battle is a melee between tens of thousands of people, and it is expected to consume a lot of ammunition."

Du Zhongxiao said: "It should be true. I have ordered Li Fugui to properly arrange manpower and ensure that Yanqi has no shortage of supplies."

Of course, heavy artillery could not be transported at such a long distance. Zhang Ji's army did not even have cannons, and its strength was greatly reduced. For the Song army, although the weapons were incomplete, there was a 50,000 army, which was completely a battle scale, and there was nothing against the Black Khan Army.

After talking about some errands, everyone arrived at the Houya to have a banquet.

Yanqi is inland, with simple dishes and only some fruits and melons. This area is the hometown of fruits and melons. Although it is winter, there are still fruits such as melons that are resistant to storage. However, there is nothing in the vegetables, except meat, but there is still a full table of meat.

Du Zhongxiao said: "I have been in the Western Regions for several months. To be honest, I miss Shengzhou a little. The transportation here is inconvenient. In autumn and winter, there will be no fresh fruits and vegetables, and it tastes no taste. There is only one thing, the mutton here is very delicious, and it is better than Shengzhou."

Zhang Ke said: "I prepared barbecue tonight. They were all selected good mutton, skewers into large skewers, and cooked on charcoal fire."

As he spoke, everyone sat down and the soldiers came over and were filled with wine.

Du Zhongxiao raised the restaurant and whispered loudly: "This battle in Kucha is a key battle in the Western Regions. If you defeat this, the court can do its best to manage the Western Regions without any disturbances from outsiders. Of course, if you lose, you can only watch the black dust and stop raising everything! Everyone encourages you!"

Everyone raised their glasses together, drank a glass of wine, and ate some chopped melons.

After a while, the meat skewers came, Du Zhongxiao took a skewer and ate it, and said, "It's really good meat. Speaking of which, although the north is bitter and cold, good meat is often produced. The Western Regions are a good place, with good meat and good fruits."

Fu Bi said: "Yes, and the land here is vast and sparsely populated. If it is under the rule of the court, it will be a place to settle down."

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said, "In the past, there were many repetitions in the Western Regions, all of which were the chaos in the Central Plains, and the place was finally destroyed by the hands of foreign races. Now that the railway is built, this kind of thing will be difficult to happen in the future. Of course, the Central Plains is in chaos and the Western Regions cannot be peaceful. After all, everything depends on the Central Plains. Although this battle in Gaochang seemed to have a journey to the Western Regions, it would have a far-reaching impact on future generations. If Kucha wins this battle, it will be even more determined. If Hei Khan is driven away, you can welcome Yuchi Sanlang to Yutian and rebuild the country."

Fu Bi said: "Jingshou, why do you have to rebuild Khotan? If the country is destroyed, it will be destroyed. If it takes up the land, the court will send officials to the court."

Du Zhongxiao said: "The deputy envoy, including many officials, thinks that rebuilding the Kingdom of Khotan is unnecessary. In fact, this matter is not that difficult to understand. In the future, if Dangxiang is destroyed, the Central Plains and the Western Regions will inevitably have to go to several counties in Hexi. From the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties for hundreds of years, how many Han people are left in several counties in Hexi? Without Han people, the rule will not be stable. Not to mention the Western Regions, there are some Han people left behind in Yizhou, Gaochang, Beiting and other places, and Yanqi is, when they arrive in Shule, I heard that they are all natives. Now the population of the Central Plains is not large, and except for the imperial envoys, there will not be many Han people going to the Western Regions to make a living. If the Kingdom of Khotan is not built, the local natives will have no heart, and they will be afraid of chaos at that time."
Chapter completed!